Ailing Chávez Seeks to Delay Inauguration

Opposition Claims the Postponement Is Unconstitutional, Asks for Top Court Ruling; Leader's Allies Focus on Transition

By

Ángel González and

Kejal Vyas

Updated Jan. 9, 2013 2:28 a.m. ET

CARACAS—President
Hugo Chávez
won't be able to attend Thursday's scheduled inauguration of his new term, confirming suspicions that the Venezuelan leader's illness will keep him in a Cuban hospital past the date and raising the possibility of a constitutional crisis.

ENLARGE

Venezuelan National Assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, left, and Vice-President Dario Vivas arrive to a session in Caracas on Tuesday. Mr. Cabello announced that President Hugo Chavez will not be able to take the oath to be sworn in.
AFP/Getty Images

The former tank commander has been in a Cuban hospital since Dec. 11, when he underwent his fourth surgery in the past 18 months to treat an undisclosed type of cancer. He has since been battling a severe respiratory infection and is in "delicate" condition, officials said.

The move underscores top officials' reluctance to engage in a full-fledged transition of power as long as there is a chance Mr. Chávez, who won re-election in October by a broad margin, can recover. The populist has run the country virtually as a one-man show for the past 14 years, greatly enlarging the state's role in the economy and challenging the U.S. in the region.

Venezuela's opposition leaders said that the delay is unconstitutional, and argue that the country's charter states that if a president-elect is unable to be inaugurated, the president of the national assembly should lead the government.

If the president is then deemed in "permanent absence," new elections should be called within 30 days.

But Mr. Chávez's supporters argue that the swearing-in ceremony is just a formality, and say the constitution allows for a president-elect to be sworn in before the top court without specifying a date. The National Assembly voted Tuesday to postpone the inauguration, the pro-Chavéz majority approving the plan with a show of hands, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier Tuesday, the leader of Venezuela's opposition, Henrique Capriles, called for the country's Supreme Court to resolve the debate and head off a constitutional crisis.

"There must be an answer from the Supreme Court," Mr. Capriles said at a news conference. "In Venezuela, right now there's a constitutional conflict brewing."

The Supreme Court had no immediate response on Tuesday.
Luisa Estella Morales,
head of Venezuela's Supreme Court, said on Dec. 20 that the judicial body hadn't been asked for an opinion on the possible postponement of the inauguration and called the situation "unprecedented."

Venezuelan newspapers reported on Tuesday that the court rejected a private lawsuit filed in December that sought to force a transition and new elections if Mr. Chávez couldn't retake the country's helm by Thursday. A spokesman for the court didn't return calls seeking comment.

Analysts said it is doubtful that the top court, stacked with loyalists to the ruling Socialist party, would stand in the way of Mr. Chávez's government.

The government will likely avoid holding new elections unless the president calls for them or passes away, potentially leading to a prolonged period of political uncertainty and rising tension, political-risk-analysis consultant firm
Eurasia Group
said Tuesday.

Mr. Chávez's "total absence from public view could make such a scenario difficult to sustain and pressures from opposition leaders would increase over time. This would lead to a scenario of rapidly rising political and social tension," the analysts wrote.

Most Venezuelans in this deeply polarized country are divided on whether Mr. Chávez's illness means he should step aside.

Andrés Sotillo,
a 62-year-old law student at a government-sponsored program, said the decision to delay Mr. Chávez's inauguration is perfectly legal given his illness and the possibility he could recover. "He's a human being," Mr. Sotillo said. But even if Mr. Chávez can't return, "the revolution must go on because the people want it that way," he added.

Daniel Márquez,
a 60-year-old woodworker who said he is an independent, said Mr. Chávez should take a page from Fidel Castro's book and go live a happy retirement. Mr. Márquez said, however, that Mr. Chávez's revolution is likely to fail if he doesn't stay at the helm. "Without Chávez this is over," Mr. Márquez said.

The president hasn't been publicly seen or heard from since he left for Cuba. The Venezuelan opposition said the government isn't being forthcoming about the president's true condition, pointing out that the exact type of cancer that ails the leader has never been divulged, and unconfirmed details have emerged in foreign news accounts and on social-media networks.

Venezuela's Information Ministry said on Monday that Mr. Chávez is adapting to treatment that "is being applied permanently and rigorously."

On Monday,
Diego Padrón,
the leader of Venezuela's Catholic bishops' conference, said the government's secretiveness "does not favor at all the country's tranquillity."

The government, which says it has kept Venezuelans informed at all times, asked citizens not to listen to "psychological war messages" transmitted from abroad.

The government has convened Mr. Chávez's supporters in front of the presidential palace Thursday, and government media said Uruguay President José Mujica and Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño would attend. The state-run news agency also said Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, a staunch ally of Mr. Chávez, will visit the ailing president in Cuba at the end of the week.

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